Syria’s massacres and Amro-Russian indifference

Russia and the US continue to swing between stabilizing the ceasefire agreement in Syria and covering the violations made by Assad regime. Whenever the brutal massacres in Aleppo countryside, Hama and Damascus countryside are committed in cold blood, European and Arab voices rise calling for stabilizing the ceasefire and extending it while on the other hand they seed it with all the reasons for being breached through demanding Syrian opposition to distinguish itself from Al-Nusra allowing Moscow thus to make use of this overlapping between moderate opposition and Al-Nusra in order to justify Assad’s and Iranian offensives. 

A US-Russian meeting last Sunday was dedicated to discuss providing aid to the Syrian opposition facing brutal wide-scale offensives and to gather the efforts in preparation for “Friends of Syria” meeting due to be held May 17. The aim is provide support to the Syrian opposition and to prevent the regime’s breaches from going unanswered through passing some sophisticated weapons among them TOW missiles which allowed the opposition to cause major causalities among Assad and Iranian militias. 

Moscow resorts to Washington in order to revive the negotiations after it allowed that military escalation against the opposition and to thwart stronger attitudes expressed by Saudi foreign minister who said that the “weapons provided to the opposition are much powerful and destructive than the ones already provided.”

In form, the American-Russian points of agreement look indifferent. Sometimes, both of them practice pressure on their allies to push for a political solution while sometimes they allow military escalation though Russia is more inclined to coordinate this escalation with its allies amid an American indifference or pretension. 

Within this cooperation between the two superpowers, we can’t separate the Russian attitude in Syria from two major factors: 

First, Moscow’s anger with the American continuous efforts to limit its power in Europe through extending NATO in the east of Europe, last of which deploying Anti-Air missile System in Romania.

Secondly, the game has become open for the Iranian strategy in terms of its regional role. However, in case there was no problem with Iran’s determination to keep Assad in power and to secure its influence in the region, Iran is no longer feeling comfortable about what was called “Obama being impressed with its “successes” to the extent that he asked the Gulf Countries to share the region with Tehran. 

What Iran wanted through making it join the political process in Syria after it was invited to Vienna meeting last year has just vanished since Moscow and the US have alone decided to manage the Syrian crisis. 

Walid Shkeer in Al-Hayat

Translated by Orient Net English